Quest for Demeter
by StrawberryJammer
Summary: 6 Half-Bloods go on a quest to find a lost goddess.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay,**

**Jazzy here! I'm goin' out on a limb and doing something wierd... I've seen so many other great writers (Piper-Weasly, check her out cuz she's great!) do this thing where they give reviewers the chance to submit characters through reviews and I'll make a story picking the involving the ones I think are the best. I"ll be picking 6 half bloods to go on a quest, and may will die. I haven't decided on that is only one rule, don't make your child a son/daughter of a virgin goddess (with the exception of Athena) because I won't include you. **

**Requirements for Demigod (list in review):**

**-Full Name (First, middle, and last. BE CREATIVE. If I get even 1 John Smith I swear...)**

**-Godly Parent**

**-Personality(At least 7-8 sentences on the personality folks, the point is for you to make your own charactar, not for me to do it for you.)**

**-Appearance(Again, fairly descriptive. I don't want just hair/eye color I want features.)**

**-Clothing(Gimme a brand or a link to a picture.)**

**-Background(What'd they do before Camp Half Blood... Have they been on any quests... so on and so forth.)**

**-Romance?(Optional. But this is after The Last Olympian so don't include dead people. Before Son of Neptune, Just in case you were wondering.)**

**-Die or no die? Its a pretty simple question...**

**-Weapon/Magical Item(Again, optional. I can make up a weapon if needed.)**

**-Age**

**So! November 18th is when I'll close the get your charactars in right away! Remember, the most important thing, BE CREATIVE.**

**-JazzMister**


	2. CHARACTAR LIST UP!

**So! The time has come! For me too pick those lucky six who get to be in**

**my story! Let me just tell you that it was REALLY hard to pick from all**

**of the GREAT choices I had. I'm really impressed with all of the **

**creativity I saw here! It was a really fun experience. As a side note,**

**all of the charactars (in your reviews) will be removed in case the **

**people who clean out fanfiction come across this and try to delete the a**

**I already started. **

**Okay, time for our...LUCKY SIX!:**

-**Full Name: Natalie Lily Swanson** (Prefers to go by Lily because she does

n't like Natalie too much, and people have called her Lily her whole

life so she got used to it. Lily fits her love of flowers. Only her

parents and occasionally her teachers call her Natalie.)

-Godly Parent: Demeter

-Personality: She's pretty cheerful, but she's also sensitive and can

crumble under big drama. However, she can be a really tough competitor,

and when she's in it, she's "in it to win it". (Her competitiveness can

surprise many people who don't know her too well.)When something

happens she doesn't like, she tries hard to change it. If she cares

about something, she's really passionate about it and stands up for it.

She may seem smart and collected on the outside, but once you get to

know her, you can see she can actually be crazy/weird, too. She'll help

those who need it. She is not an artistic person, and if she tries draw

ing something like a hand, it might turn out to look like a spider or po

tato with straws, instead. However, she does have a good eye for spottin

g beautiful things and to make up for her lack of artistic talent, she

can plant flowers and make them grow to be beautiful and arrange them

nicely. She's a good student and cares about her studies, tending to be

a pretty busy person.

-Appearance: Her height is a bit above average. She has straight brown

hair growing about two inches past her shoulders and a muted tone of

green for her eyes. She has a rounded, honest face. Her hands are tough

from doing a lot of work on planting flowers, etc.

-Clothing: She doesn't like wearing dresses and rarely wears skirts,

settling for jeans,t-shirts, and converse instead. Lots of cute sweat

shirts, sweat pants, and boots. She doesn't exactly care about the brand

s of things she wears. She has a simple silver flower necklace she

always keeps on (not of a lily, but of a lotus.) ak2(dot)ostkcdn(dot)com

(slash)images(slash)products(slash)59/586/T13008513(dot)jpg

-Background: Her life used to be pretty normal: she had an older

step-sister she got into arguments with, a younger step-brother who like

d annoying her, a dad who was twice divorced (he claimed Lily's mom was

his first divorce, and when he met Lily's older sister and younger

brother's mom who already had them from a divorce, they married, but

divorced after a year). Her dad didn't pay much attention to her because

she was the middle; he went to many of her little brother's baseball

games and her older sister's concerts. However, he didn't go to her even

a result, this made Lily competitive, trying to fight for her dad

's attention and prove to him she can be as good as her siblings. She

came to Camp Half-Blood and found out about her mom when she was twelve,

after experiencing her second monster attack (the first one she tried

to convince herself was a hallucination, but from which she got a scar

on her leg from that she tries to keep covered up). She was supposed to

go on a quest when she was 13, but something happened/went wrong and it

was called off. She goes back to her family after the summer, and he

dad tries to pay more attention to her.

-Romance? Sure, if you find some place to.

-Die or no die? Rather not, but if it's important to the story, go ahead

, I guess.

-Weapon: A type of sword that's light to hold but can do a lot of damage.

-Age: 14

**Full Name (First, middle, and last. BE CREATIVE. If I get even 1 John **

**Smith I swear...): Roshan Alicia Davis** (This is my actual name, so I hop

e it's not too ordinary)

Godly Parent: Apollo

Personality(At least 7-8 sentences on the personality folks, the point

is for you to make your own charactar, not for me to do it for you.): A

really random girl who always has something to say. She will always

have the last word, even if she's the only one who heard it. She always

tries to look the other way when it comes to snotty people. She'll be

nice up to a point and after that point she'll rip their hair out and

not blink twice. Other than that, she's always the first one to do some

thing stupid and laugh about it, then want to do it again (sometimes

even if it's deadly). She's always trying to be the loudest (and it gets

ANNOYING), and ALWAYS smiles, even if it's just for the sake of smiling

.She's one of those people who always has their ears open and will go

anywhere and do almost anything to find out what she wants to know. This

doesn't necessarily mean that she'll back-stab a friend, though.

Appearance(Again, fairly descriptive. I don't want just hair/eye color

I want features.):

-Certain Marks on Body (Scars, Tattoos, birthmarks; etc; etc): Nope

-Nationality/Race: She is half Greek, half Jamaican

-Eyes: Dark brown with long eyelashes

-Hair: Jet black. She has long, wavyish hair, but she like put put it in

weaved braids, because that makes it easier to handle. She'll wear it in

a ponytail, with one of those braided around-the-head headbands, or both

.She'll even wear it with top half of it up in a ponytail and the other

half hanging loose.

-Height: 5'2½" (Shortie!)

-Weight: 110 pounds

-Build: She doesn't really have a figure yet, but she's leaning toward

hourglass.

-Other parts of appearance I may have missed: She doesn't really have a

problem with her appearance, but she hates how large her hands are

compared to her wrists. She wears jackets and fingerless gloves to hide

it.

Clothing(Gimme a brand or a link to a picture.):

-Camp: She'll wear her camp T-shirt, a jacket around her waist, and her

older pairs of jeans and sneakers, because she knows how messy it can

get at camp

-Casual: Hot Topic. Just clothes with really funny slogans. She'll

almost never wear a skirt or dress (like, once a year). She wears shorts

, capris, and jeans, but her favorite pants of all time are jeggings.

She usually have a jacket on her back or around her waist, and

fingerless gloves now and then.

-Formal: She'll wear a dress and slippers if it's formal. But she'll

have a pair of sneakers ready if things get serious and she needs more

functional shoes.

-Swimming: She has a light blue and dark purple three-piece. If she's

not swimming, then wearing the skirt if a necessity.

Background(What'd they do before Camp Half Blood... Have they been on

any quests... so on and so forth.): Never before been on a quest before

but is itching to go on one. (But as for how she got to camp...) One

Bring Your Pet To School day, a girl brought her dog to school. The

Mist prevented everyone but Roshan to see that the dog was a hellhound.

It smelled Roshan and attacked, killing a teacher in the process.

Roshan eventually killed it with a piece of sharp wood. The incident was

seen as her fault, and Roshan was expelled. Her mother moved them to

Manhattan, which has been their home ever since. Now Roshan goes to camp

.

Romance?(Optional. But this is after The Last Olympian so don't include dead people. Before Son of Neptune, Just in case you were wondering.): Sure. Either a funny Hermes boy, a sweet Demeter boy, or a smart/nice Athena boy. Better if they were older than her, though

Die or no die? Its a pretty simple question: I'd prefer for her to stay

alive and not dead.

Weapon/Magical Item(Again, optional. I can make up a weapon if needed.):

Bow and returning sonic arrows concealed in a silver "R" on a charm

necklace. She always wears this necklace.

Age: Fourteen (Birthday: October 17th)

**-Full Name: Maxwell Chase Raymond**

Godly Parent: Hermes

-Personality: He's funny, and he likes to say random things that are completly different from the current conversation. He can get hyper a lot. He's sarcatsic, and bites people if they get on his nerves. He says his mind, and sometimes that can get him in a lot of trouble. He'll try and take you down if you're mean to him, or if you're an enemy. He like music, and if there's music playing during a fight for some reason, he'll fight to the beat.(Yeah idk either) He's outgoing, and good with secrets and solving riddles. He cares a lot about his friends, but if

they need help, he'll stop to think what's in it for me?

-Appearance: Black hair with thick curls that's kinda right above his ears, which are elfish, like all the Hermes kids. Pointed nose, with a mischevious smile. He has tanned skin and bright blue eyes.

-Clothing(Gimme a brand or a link to a picture.) Sorry, no link or anything. This is made up.(but if it were real,I would SO buy it) A white tee that has Rattata on it(ya know, th Pokemon?) And it says 'I like stealing food from stupid travelers' in big letters. The rattata is winking. Blue jeans, and a black jacket that has Pikachu on the back. Converse tennis shoes.(He likes pokemon btw)

-Background: Lived in Oklahoma for a while, until a hellhound attacked him at the age of 10. His mother then realized the danger he was in, and took him to camp, where he was claimed by Hermes after stepping in the Hermes cabin. He has not been on any quests, but will go on one if he has to.

-Romance? No.

-Die or no die? It's time to play, Die or No Die! Lol, anyways, no die!

-Weapon/Magical Item: A silver sword that turns into a pencil.(Yes the p

encil part works!) It has rubys on the hilt. It was a gift from his fath

er.

-Age: 14

-Anything Else: He has a pet rat, Missy. She's an pink-eyed white.

(Aka PEW) also, a border collie named Pip.

**-Full Name William Kilmurray (don't you dare take the piss)**

-Godly Parent Nike the Goddess of victory (pick him I bet no one else has her down).

-Personality Will stick up for his mates and not take anything lying down. If hit he will hit back. Will not back down still he is proven wrong. So in other words he is stubborn. He seems completely predictable, but right when you think you've figured him out he surprises you. He is extremely loyal, and never would think of betraying his friends. He is well liked for his sarcastic but still kind nature. The only thing about him that annoys people is his extremely competitive nature.

-Appearance Has brown skin and brown eyes. His hair is black and bushy, with a bit of a fringe. His size is average and he has a runners build.

-Clothing Just plain t-shirt, trainers and jeans. And a hoodie if needed. His trainers and jumper are Nike as a joke.

-Background On the way to camp for the first camp he and his dad were attacked by a Hellhound. It was about to kill his dad so he prayed to whoever his mother was (didn't know who he was at first). And his swords appeared (see weapons) and he used them to kill the Hellhound in a was then claimed but didn't know what it meant until he told

never been on a quest but is training all the time so he can go.

-Romance Okay why not?

-Die or no die? NO DIE. If you kill me I will haunt you and go by the

name John Smith.

Weapon/Magical Item Two short swords that can shrink into the hilt called. They are called honour and glory. One says "without honour" and the other says "there is no glory". See Background for more information.

**Name: Faelyn Grace Smithson (goes by Gracie)**

Godly parent: Nike

Personality: Really competitive, like REALLY competitive, she cant stand loosing. If she hasn't recently lost in anything, she's like on high cheerful, creeps most people out :/. She's ridiculously stubborn and determined, so if she's made up her mind about something, you have no hope. She takes change well because her brain is physically unable to look on the dark side of things. She is innocent almost to the point of naivety. She is a RUBBISH liar, but she can be persuasive when she wants to be. She is also very defensive of her friends, though she finds it easier to go give the person who hurt the ass whooping of a lifetime than actually comfort them. (is that enough?)

Appearance: Chestnut brown hair that reaches to the small of her back and is wavy (normal wavy, mind, not glamorous wavy), her dads Italian so she has a kinda pale olive skin tone. Pale blue eyes, almond too big mouth. A little short for her age.

Clothes: do I have to have a photo? She just wears average Hunter gear, y'know silvery jackets and combat boots and all that? I don't have that much of a clear image in my mind, sorry D:

Background: (20 years ago) Brought up by ex-Olympic fencer, who now runs sport shop in Washington D.C. She was close with her dad, and his friend Ian, like really trusted them both (home schooled). One day when her father was out, Ian tried to rape her (I had to give her a reason to hate men for all eternity) she was rescued by the Hunters, who offered her a place. At first she refused, thinking of her father, but when she found out Ian had murdered him, she joined. Did awesome hunter stuff for about 20 years before Artemis ordered for a Hunter to be placed in camp to keep an eye on them (she doesn't exactly trust the males

running the place), and Thalia chose her.

Romance: None

Feel free to kill her off, but I'd be happy if I could see at least

three chapters of her.

Weapon: A sword, fte?t?, meaning Winged (her mum has wings), it's a

weird one, cause it's a lot thinner than usual, not thin enough to be

a fencing sword, but yeah. It can be conseled as a gold Alice band but

with turn back into a sword if you press on the angel wing printed on

the side (I love the concealment thing, don't you?). If you feel like

it you can make up a story of how she got it, cause I'm certainly too

lazy D:

Age: 33, has been a Hunter of Artemis for twenty years, so still looks

and acts 13.

**Name:Kolby Hayden Stanko**

Godly Parent: Ares

Personality: Fairly arrogant, like all Ares kids. He is a bit of an attention hog due to the fact he was neglected as a kid (Read Background), but he does give other people a time to shine when he's feeling generous. He's good at almost everything, but the one thing he loves is football. He was planning on being a pro football star before he came to camp half blood.

He tries to teach the boys at CHB football, but they just don't like it. He loves Boondocks, Mac Miller, and mainstream music. He's a typical jock, but he has a should have more girls swooning over him, but he's a little sexist without meaning to. (Again, read backgroud :)) He's sounds like a typical Ares kid, But a way he is different is that he cares for his friends and is kind to them and really supportive.

Appearance: Spiky blonde hair, and electric blue eyes. Tan skin, He loves the beach :) Small/pointed nose, medium sized mouth, and a little sticky-outy ears. Blindingly white teeth. Muscular build, like all Ares kids.

Clothes: Usually just basic black gym shorts, or sweats. Lifeguard jackets occasionally, a lot of construction shirts. Ocassionally his old football jersey.

Background: It used to be just him and his mom. He loved her more than anything, then she got married to a guy with 6 kids. He was swept to the side and forgotten about. Always being outdone, never being the first to do anything anymore. He couldn't take it much longer, so at 10 years old he ran away for negative attention. He intended to come back until a cyclops attacked him. He had to live on the streets until a satyr found him and brought him to camp.

Die or no Die: Maybe... I'm OK with it...

Romance: Why not?

Age: 14

**That's it for today folks! The I'll try to get the first chapter up by the 20th or the 21st! Need to get my laptop back :) Anyways, much love do you all and sorry if you didn't get picked, TRY AGAIN!**

**-Jazz**


	3. Story Starts Here Chapter 1

**I. Am. So. Sorry.**

**I know that I was supposed to have this chapter out a 2 weeks or so ago, but I've been crazy busy with everything, and I know you don't wanna hear my excuses so I'll shut up now... Also, I'm really sorry about how much the story changes POV's I just wanted you to get to know all of the charactars. From the next chapter on it'll be 2 POV's max per chapter. Without further wait, I present, Chapter One in my story "Quest to Demeter."**

**Disclaimer:I don't own PJO. Insert witty comment here.**

Natalie Lily Swanson's POV

Reading was where I found peace of mind.

Life as a demigod wasn't exactly the most relaxing thing in the world. Reading allowed me to envelope myself in a false world. It allowed me to get away from how terribly screwed up my life was and enter a world of happy endings and adventure.

That's why when someone bothered me when I was reading, I. Got. Pissed.

"Natalie?" a voice said from somewhere next to me. I closed my eyes in irritation, trying to match the voice with a face. It had to be someone who didn't know me well, because instead of calling me Lily, he called me Natalie. I was about to make an assumption on who it was when...

"Um, Natalie?" the voice said again.

"What?" I snapped, looking irritably up at the boy standing next to me. I immediately wished I could take back what I said. There in front of me, in all of his god-like glory, was Kolby Stanko.

Kolby was one of the most popular boys at camp. Whether it was his sparkling wit, his exceptional fighting skills, or his unbearably good looks (probably the latter), he was the boy I'd been crushing on for two long years. Six months of those in which he'd been dating Alexa Hollister, some _snot_ from Hebe. I hated that girl with every fiber of my being. She was a crazy witch who was just using Kolby to climb up the social ladder, and sometimes, she made me want to kick her where it counted.

Ahem, anyway...

I focused my attention on Kolby again.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else," I said, nervously brushing a lock of my caramel brown hair behind my ear. A light blush residing on my cheeks, and I prayed to the gods he didn't notice. I'd talked to Kolby sometimes when we were on the same team for capture the flag or when we got paired up together to practice swordplay in the arena, but this was new. He'd never come to me on his own accord.

"Oh, no problem. I was actually wondering if you could—" he began, but a shrill voice sounded from a couple feet away.

"KOLBYYYYY! Where are you, gorgeous?"

Oh, gods. I knew that voice. I tensed, looking in the direction of the source of the voice.

There, behind Kolby, materialized Alexa from what looked like nowhere. Her thick blond hair was pulled back in a flawless high ponytail and she was wearing a bright pink bikini top. Her shorts? They looked like glorified panties.

Her grin vanished when she saw me. She skipped up to us and wrapped her long, bony arms around Kolby's neck possessively.

"Where have YOU been?" she squealed in that annoyingly high voice. She then proceeded to plant a big wet smooch on his lips. I rolled my eyes and decided I could read somewhere else. I picked up my beach blanket, beach bag, and book, then began to walk away, but soon, I heard footsteps behind me. In my peripheral vision, Kolby was jogging after me, sans Alexa.

"Hey, Natalie! Can you wait a sec?" he yelled from a couple feet behind me. I stopped and turned around.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked; my voice had a cold edge in it, the one it got when I saw Kolby hung around Alexa. I looked at his stance, noticing that it screamed nervous. He was constantly running his hand through his thick blond hair and his eyes were darting around like he was worried someone was following him. I could tell something was wrong. Kolby was almost always outgoing, funny, and his eyes were usually lit up like a Christmas tree. But today as my green eyes met his electric blue ones, I only saw one expression. Panic.

"Sorry," I said, feeling bad that I'd put such an univiting tone in my voice.

"I know you're only being so cold to me so that you can mask the strong feelings you have for to break it to you Swanson, but I've got a girlfriend." He said with a boyish grin, I detected a fraction of his normal playful banter return to his voice.

"Get over yourself." I said with a small smile.

"What if I don't want to?"

Normally, I didn't fall for cocky guys like Kolby. In grade six (before he came to CHB) I'd imagine the guy I'd been with to be smart, responsible, and had everything planned. Kolby was smart only when it came to battle (being a son of Ares), one of the most immature and irresponsible guys at camp, and was a little spontaneous. But my father had once told me that you knew why you liked someone, but you didn't know why you loved someone.

"Anyway," Kolby said, snapping me out of my trance, "I have to talk to you about something—a dream I had about your mom. It was like she was... I don't know... like... _wilting_... I was hoping you could help me interpret it. It kind of freaked me out, because it almost looked like she was calling to me for help." He said, going off into deep thought.

I paused to soak in this information. My godly parent was Demeter. You know—planting... flowers... and yes, regrettably, cereal. If a demigod had had a dream about her wilting, that definitely wasn't a good sign. I thought about handing this case over to Demeter's head counselor, but decided against it. Despite what I said about it not being a good sign, it could still be nothing, and bothering Katie Gardner over nothing wasn't something I liked to do frequently.

I looked at my watch and realized that in ten minutes, I was due at the climbing wall for practice. As much as I hated to ditch Kolby, this was my first time on the wall, and apparently, Percy Jackson would be our instructor. From all the great things I'd heard about him, I couldn't pass it up. I thought it over—ten minutes until then. That gave me just enough time to head back to my cabin and change, but not enough time to discuss Kolby's dream with him

I bit my bottom lip. "Wilting, huh? That's interesting. Um, can we get together to talk about it at, like, three-ish in front of my cabin? I'm a little busy right now..." I said, praying with every cell of my being that he would say yes.

"Yeah, that sounds great," he said, flashing me one of those award-winning smiles. I couldn't help but return it.

"See you then!" I said with a small wave.

"See you!" he replied, and then started to jog back towards the beach, to dearest Alexa no doubt. Even though that negative thought should've upset me, the positive ones about spending time alone with Kolby overpowered it. 

Roshan Alicia Davis' POV

The arrow whizzed from my bowstrings and hit the target I'd been shooting for dead in the center. I smiled. Perfect as usual, Davis, I thought. I set down my weapons and decided to take a quick break. My hand instinctively flew up to my jet black, unruly hair. I sighed, realizing my braid had almost completely come undone. I gave up trying to redo it without a mirror, and settled for a high ponytail. I sat down and took the oppurtunity to wipe the sweat off of my chocolate brown skin and take a sip from my water bottle. I was about to notch my bow when I heard a boyish chuckle from behind me. My tense battle stance stiffened and I whipped around to see William Kilmurray chuckling at me from a couple feet away. I didn't know William very well—never talked to the kid in my life—but I knew he was popular at the Aphrodite cabin right now.

I raised my eyebrows, "What're you looking at sole-less?" I asked, cringing at the name. It was bad. I know.

"Sole-less?" He inquired.

"Like the sole of a Nike tennis shoe versus your actual soul." I said giggling at how stupid the name was. 

"Oh, I can most definitely come up with an insult better than that."

I shook my head. Typical kid of Nike.

"No you can't. Nike's just hard to do... If we had a contest where any god was up for grabs, I would win."

"I'm a kid of Nike; I don't lose. Winning, however—I do do that," he said, picking up a bow from the pile in the corner of the arena. Without my meaning to, I let out a snort of laughter. He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Y-you said doo-doo..." I said, a wave of giggles washing over me. Before I knew it, he was laughing, too. If I ever looked back on this moment, I would praise myself for making the doo-doo joke. Hey, somebody's got to.

"Another bad joke, Davis," he said as our laughing came to a stop.

"I don't know, you were laughing pretty hard." I tilted my head and threw him a smile.

"Probably because of how stupid it was," he said, grinning.

"Oh, and you could make a better joke that's so stupid it's funny?" I asked, shaking the thoughts of William's good looks out of my head. 

"Challenging me twice in a day, Davis? I don't think your ego can take so much abuse. Give me a minute, I'll come up with something." He wandered off in deep thought.I gave myself a moment to take in his shadow black hair, gorgeous green eyes, and lean runners build. I had to admit, he was pretty easy on the eyes.

Finally, he turned back to me. "What did Batman say to Robin before they got in the Batmobile?" he asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"What?" I asked, already determined not to laugh.

"Get in the car."

Despite my previous intention, I erupted into peal after peal of laughter. He was right: that bad joke topped mine.

I finally collected myself and, stifling my giggles, straightened up. "That was a nice break, but I really gotta get back to practice. Is there something you wanted to tell me?" I asked, picking up my bow.

"Oh, yeah. There was a schedule change. You're due at the climbing wall instead of arts and crafts," he said.

"The climbing wall? SWEET! I've been waiting to get my hands on that thing since the first day I saw it!" I exclaimed, bouncing on my heels in excitement.

"No kidding, huh? Well, on top of that, Percy Jackson's the instructor," he said. I could see his eyes light up at that fact.

"Meh. He's overrated. What time are we supposed to be there?" I asked. Will looked down at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Five minutes ago." He grabbed my arm and broke into a sprint, dragging me after him.

I tried to ignore the light blush that rose to my cheeks upon the physical contact and hoped Will was too busy running to see it. 

Maxwell Chase Raymond's POV

"MAX!"

I heard a muffled yell from somewhere across the room. I groaned in response.

"Go 'way," I mumbled, pulling my comforter over my curly black hair. Suddenly, my entire body was exposed to the cool morning air. I snuggled deeper into my bed.

"Up or Charmander gets it."

My eyes immediately flew open. Charmander was a stuffed Pokemon that my mom had given me for Christmas a few years back. No, I was not ashamed to say that I slept with it every night.

"Travis," I said, finally recognizing the voice, "why didn't you come back to the cabin last night? Making out with Gardner in the woods again?" I asked, looking at him to see his expression. Much to my discontent, he didn't look the slightest bit embarrassed.

"As a matter of fact Max-a-million, I was. I wouldn't be teasing, kid; I get more action in one day that you get in one year," he said while pulling me out of bed.

"Whatever happened to the 'girls have cooties' thing?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Somewhere along the road, it turned into 'girls have boobies'. Anyway, breakfast is over. So is lunch. Today you're scheduled for the climbing wall—can't let you miss that. Your first time on the wall, AND my good friend Perce is instructing. By the way, you're late." He opened my dresser and started throwing some clothes on my bed.

As soon as I had come to camp, I had become Travis and Connor's prodigy, and they had taken me under their wing and taught me everything they knew. They told me that after they leave, they need a pranking king to take their place. After a while, they became the brothers I never had. Travis gave me advice on life and pushed me to be the best I could while Connor helped me relax and have fun every once in a while. They were the best companions I could ever ask for.

"Get dressed, Maxie. Got a big day ahead of us," he said as he jogged out of the cabin. I groaned, resisting the very big urge to fall back into my bed, and began to get dressed. 

Faelyn Grace Smithson's POV

I sat down on a disfigured rock, glad for the moment's respite. On my break, I had regrettably decided to take a jog in the woods. I had just needed a bit of time to clear my head, and soon enough, I realized that I'd been jogging for four miles. I sighed and ran my fingers through my chesnut brown hair. Walking back would be a pain, and after that, I had the climbing wall, which I would need major leg strength for. I wanted to do my best today because I heard the instructor had defeated the titan lord and managed to not get turned into a jackalope by Lady Artemis, both of which tasks I found impressive, but the latter more so. I began the long trek back towards camp, ignoring the aching pain in my legs.

"Faelyn?"

Hearing my name, I whipped around to see Lady Artemis contacting me through an Iris Message.

"My lady!" I said, kneeling and bowing my head.

"Get up child. I have news." I stood up and brushed the dirt off my knees.

"What is it?" I asked, hoping and praying that it was news that I could get to leave this wretched camp and come back to the Hunters. I hoped that it was that I was done spying on the half-bloods, who didn't understand me like my Hunters did. I hoped it was news that I could return to the place I belonged.

"There will be a quest. I want you to go on it. The half-bloods on the quest may provide some use to me," she said sharply. My face fell, and it must have been noticeable because Lady Artemis's face softened.

"Oh Faelyn. Don't give me those eyes," She said, I'd been told many a time by her that when sad my pale blue eyes took on an extremely gloomy disposition. "I know that this is difficult, child. I'm trying to construct a way to get you out of that place without Chiron suspecting that I've been spying on him. I don't want to lose the campers as allies." Her eyes searched mine, as if trying to see how this affected me. Although I was disappointed, I understood the duty to my lady.

"Thank you my lady. That means...more than you know," I said, offering a small, unconvincing smile.

"You're welcome. Now, you better run along; you're late for climbing on that wall." She gestured to the clearing in the woods.

I looked at my watch and yelled a profanity that would get my too big mouth washed out with soap at home. I muttered a quick goodbye and apology to Lady Artemis, who had an amused look on her seemingly-young face, and sprinted out of the woods. 

Third Person POV

Percy rubbed the bridge of his nose; none of the junior campers had decided that they were going to show up today. Well, none except for Lily Swanson. She was a timid child of Demeter who was anything but a conversationalist. After a couple of attempts at making her laugh, Percy had just slipped into an uncomfortable silence, waiting for the others to show up. Finally, five other figures appeared on the horizon. He breathed a sigh of relief, not sure how much longer he could have stood the silence.

They all came from different directions and bombarded him with excuses, apologies, and "oh my gods, you're Percy Jackson"'s. Fortunately, he was used to all three.

"All right," he called. "Everyone but Natalie—"

"Lily. Call me Lily, please," she interrupted. Percy was mildly surprised, but obliged.

"Sorry. Everyone but Lily, drop and give me twenty." Percy grinned. How he loved torturing the younger campers. Groans circled all around, but everyone knew not to disobey Percy.

Percy surveyed the group, matching each name with a face.

Roshan Davis, who was a child of Apollo. Annabeth had mentioned her once or twice because she was amazing with a bow and some arrows.

Faelyn Smithson, daughter of Nike and an object of curiosity to him. She was an ex-Hunter who had decided to come to camp for reasons unknown to him. Percy didn't know whether to feel bad for her because she had next to NO friends here, or to be suspicous of her because she was very closed-off and mysterious.

Maxwell Raymond, child of Hermes, famous prankster. Percy chuckled at how much of Travis he saw in that boy.

Kolby Stanko, son of Ares. Normally, Percy hated the guts of everyone in that cabin, but this kid was different in many ways: he was compassionate about things other than fighting, valued human life, and had a weird obsession with purple.

William Kilmurray, son of Nike. Apparently, this kid reminded everybody of Percy when he himself was fourteen. Percy'd never really talked to him, but he decided this would be a good chance.

Finally, there was Lily/Natalie, whom he knew _nothing_ about.

Something about these kids made Percy's battle senses tingle. Alone, they meant nothing, but together, he felt something weird coming on.

"What do we do when we're done?" He heard someone's voice ask him, snapping him about of his deep thought. He grinned. Time for some fun.

"Start climbing the wall," Percy said, gesturing over to the tall slab of stone. It was extremely intimidating, with lava pouring over the sides, jagged rocks strategically placed to hinder campers, and ledges made of stone, wood, and plastic. The Hephaestus cabin had made additions to the wall throughout time, and Percy was REALLY glad that Leo Valdez hadn't exsisted when he was a junior camper.

The campers looked around at each other, trying to figure out if he was joking.

"Oh, I'm serious. You'll have to figure out how to do this on your own; I'm just here in case someone gets stuck. And by stuck, I mean when someone is facing sudden death and they can't get out by themselves." Percy gestured to the wall again. "Start climbing."

**OKAY!**

**That was intense, and probably the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope I nailed all of your characters, and if not, leave a review telling me how terribly I did. (feel free to praise me as well ;)) Again, sorry it took so long with the first chapter; I just wanted to start of the story on a REALLY good note.**

**-Jazz**


End file.
